Pieces of a Case
by Creek-IB-08
Summary: 8th in the 'Pieces' series. Brennan gets called in to work on a case with Perotta. Meanwhile Angela plans Booth's 'surprise party' and everyone must adjust to the new development in Booth and Brennan's relationship.


**Pieces of a Case**

**A Bones Fanfic**

**By Amanda**

**Sequel to ****Falling to Pieces****, ****Picking up the Pieces****, **

**Putting the Pieces Back Together****, ****Bits and Pieces****, **

**Pieces of My Heart****, ****All the Little Pieces****, and****The Date**

**Spoilers for all four seasons (I think), but most are vague. **

**No copyright infringement intended. I only own the story line.**

*~BONES~*

When the black, government issued SUV pulled up, the last person Agent Perotta expected to see climb out of the driver's seat was Dr. Brennan. "Great, now she's even driving his car?!" she thought to herself disdainfully, "I guess I really _don't_ have a chance." Plastering on as sincere a look as possible, she made her way to the doctor to lead her to the remains. "Dr. Brennan, the remains are over in that building" Perotta announced when she got close enough to be heard, she had long since learned that inane pleasantries were often considered a waste of time by her companion.

"How exactly were the remains found?" Brennan questioned already in full work mode.

"This building is undergoing a major overhaul to comply with new safety regulations. The workers were checking the strength of the main support pillars before replacing the others. When they imaged the pillar, they found what's left of a body."

"Is the pillar still intact?" Brennan asked already thinking about all the ways they could have compromised her remains.

"Yes. They are in the process of putting up temporary supports so that the pillar we need can be removed" Perotta informed her.

By this time, the two women had reached the area of the structure in question. The building itself had been gutted and was empty of people except for the men finishing work on the temporary supports, the overseer, and local police. Examining the area, Brennan found that there was nothing much that she could do here. It would be too risky to try and excise the body from the cement _here_, it would have to be done at the lab with the proper tools to avoid harming the bones.

Looking around, she saw the imaging machine off to the side. "I need to have a look inside the pillar. Who knows how to work that thing?"

"That would be me" a young man said stepping forward from the group.

"Good, I need you to show me the body" Brennan told him.

A couple of minutes later, the technician had the machine working and Brennan was watching a screen intently. After a couple of minutes of intense scrutiny she walked up to the pillar with a marker and drew two parallel lines across the surface four feet apart. "I will need everything between these two marks taken back to the Jeffersonian." That being said she turned on her heel throwing a brief explanation that that was all she could do for now over her shoulder.

Perotta simply sighed. Sometimes she couldn't understand what Booth saw in her or how he could stand working with any of the squints at all. Turning her attention back to the people around her she started getting progress reports and issuing instructions.

*~BONES~*

Given the early hour of the call from Perotta, Bones was the first one at the lab despite the detour to the construction site that morning. Noting this, she made her way to her office to go through her mail and boot-up her computer. Entering her office, she hung her jacket up and set her bag down by her desk before picking up her desk phone and pushing speed dial 1. As she waited for the phone to be picked up, she turned on her computer and started sorting the mail on her desk. There were several requests for her to guest lecture or proof others' work or consult on cases for other agencies and anthropologists. She was distracted from those however when she heard his deep "Booth".

"Hey, I said I'd call when I got into the lab."

"That didn't take very long. What's up with the case?" Booth inquired. He was surprised. Usually it took close to an hour at least for her to examine the remains and them to interview witnesses, etc.

"Well, there was not much I could do. Apparently the body is incased in a cement pillar. I can't do anything until the pillar is brought here and the remains are removed" she relayed matter-of-factly.

"So what are you doing now? Just waiting?"

"You should know better than that. I don't only work on cases for the FBI. I have correspondence to deal with and bodies in Limbo and a book to write" she chastised lightly. "Now, have you decided what you're going to do today?"

"Not really, why?"

"Just curious" she answered looking up at the knock on her door. "Booth I have to go. I'll call you later."

"Sweetie, what are you doing here? I thought you were taking leave until next week" Angela inquired taking a seat.

"I was Ang, but Agent Perotta called this morning with a case, so I'm working now."

"When are we getting the remains?" Angela asked.

"I don't know, it might take a while."

"Good, in the mean time, you can help me plan Booth's surprise party!" she enthused.

"Ang, you do know that _he knows_ about the party right?" Brennan asked with a raised brow.

"Of course, but it's more fun to plan a surprise party than a regular one!"

Brennan just barely kept herself from rolling her eyes at her eccentric friend. "What can I do to help? I'm not really the party planning type."

"True, but you know Booth better than anyone. So you can tell me what he'd like and who to invite."

"There really aren't that many people to invite Ang. You and Hodgins, Cam and Sweets, Booth and me – that's really it. I don't think he has any really good friends at the FBI that he hangs out with outside of work."

"What about Booth Lite?"

"_Jared_," Brennan countered stressing his actual name, "is in India, so he can't come."

"Why is he in India?"

"He wanted to have an adventure I guess. Booth almost went with him" she added.

"What about Rebecca? Do you think she would come?"

"I don't really know, maybe."

"Oh, and Caroline. I could invite her, she's fun."

"No, she's 'puckish', but she may come" Bren corrected.

This time it was Angela's turn to roll her eyes, typical Bren. "So where should we have it?" Angela asked at length.

"The Founding Fathers' would work. That way we already have music, food, and alcohol – nothing to really plan for. Besides, I think he would like it to be something normal."

"Fine, but that's not very festive" Angela pouted. "The least we could do would be to go somewhere new, but I guess we don't _have_ to."

A few quiet minutes passed while Ang sulked and Bren read through her e-mails. Suddenly Ang's demeanor changed abruptly and a brilliant smile replaced the small frown of moments before. "So spill!" she exclaimed.

"Spill what? I don't have anything. And why would I make a mess on purpose?" Bren asked deciding to play dumb.

"Don't pull that with me, you know exactly what I'm talking about! You have to tell me all about last night."

"What happened last night?" Cam asked poking her head into the room.

When Bren didn't answer right away, Angela blurted out, "Bren and Booth went on a _real_ date! Isn't that great! I mean it only took them four years and …" she trailed off doing a quick mental count. 'Senator's aid, 'valley fever Christmas', Mala Muerte gang shooting, Kenton shooting at Bren and bombing Booth and kidnapping Bren, New Orleans voodoo, Sweet Pete in Vegas, Bren and Hodgins buried by Gravedigger, Howard Epps, Booth being kidnapped and tortured, the psychotic paramedic, taxi explosion, Pam, the Gravedigger _again_, the black knight, resonance chamber, Booth's tumor and coma and amnesia' "no less than _20_ near death experiences. Wow, you guys _really_ need to be more careful" she scolded Brennan.

"So you went on a date, huh? Where to?" Cam asked managing to hide the small twinge of jealousy from her voice. She really was happy for both of them, and it's not like she didn't see it coming. It was just that Seeley was such a good man and she really wished that she had someone like that.

Brennan blushed slightly at all of the attention, but decided that answering would be the quickest way to get this over with. "We went to this really nice restaurant owned by his friend Marcos. We ate, we talked, we danced, we went home, end of story" she said decisively.

"Awww. You danced? Was it a slow dance? Where did you dance? Is he any good? And how was the food?" gushed Ang.

"Yes, yes, at the restaurant, yes but I already knew that from Aurora, and fantastic" was the concise response.

"Come on Bren, you have to give us more than that! I want all the juicy details!"

"Juicy details about what?" Perotta questioned from her place at the door.

"Her date with Booth last night" Cam and Angela said simultaneously, one slightly more enthusiastic.

None of the three friends missed the dark look and jealous flash that crossed the agent's face at the news. She quickly composed herself though and changed the topic, "I brought the remains for you. How long do you think it will be before you have anything for me?"

"It will probably be at least two hours. It is going to take a while to properly clear away the cement from the bones. I'll call as soon as I know" Brennan informed the blonde. With a curt nod and a slightly less than friendly smile, the blonde agent turned and exited the lab.

"Well, I guess I should get to work. I forget, is Clark still here?" Bren asked.

"No, Wendell is on rotation now" Cam informed her as they left the sanctuary of the office.

*~BONES~*

Booth was sitting at the table trying to organize his memories into a timeline that he could write down when his cell rang. When he looked at the caller ID, he was surprised to see a Virginia area code. "Booth" he answered.

"Hey Booth, it's Russ. You got a minute?"

"Sure, what's up?" Booth asked genuinely curious and hoping Russ hadn't gotten into trouble again. Granted the two of them got along, but it's not like they were friends.

"First, I feel obligated to say that I know you're a good guy, but if you hurt Tempe –"

"You'll do something really bad, I know" Booth cut him off with an odd sense of déjà vu, only reversed. Oh well, he would worry about that later. "And I would never hurt her Russ" he promised sincerely.

"I know, it's just my duty as a big brother to warn you" Russ chuckled. "Also, I wanted to let you know that Haley decided that we're going to Kings Island next weekend. Since it's about a 6 hour trip, I thought that we could leave Friday night and stay over in a hotel. I was about to make reservations for us and thought I'd get yours while I was at it."

"Let me call Bones real quick and see what she wants to do. I'll call you back in a minute" Booth told him.

"Sure thing."

With that, Booth disconnected the call and dialed Brennan's cell.

Brennan was overseeing the removal of the skull from the cement when the phone in her pocket began to ring. Distractedly, she answered "Brennan."

"Hey Bones, I got a question for you."

Brennan smiled into the phone at his voice but didn't turn her attention fully away from the work in front of her. "What's that?" she asked.

"Russ called and wanted to know if we wanted to drive up Friday and stay in a hotel overnight."

"That sounds practical, but why did he call you?"

"I guess because he knows I'm not working and I have to coordinate Parker's schedule. So should I call him back and have him reserve a room for us too?" he asked.

"Yeah that sounds – be careful with that! – like a good idea. Booth, I really have to go" she said before hanging up, replacing the phone in her pocket, and rushing to the table to correct the lab assistant's method.

Booth looked disbelievingly at the disconnected phone for a minute. She had just hung up on him. It wasn't the first time she had done so, but it always surprised him nonetheless. Shaking his head, he put the idea out of his head and dialed another number into the phone.

"Hello?" a female voice answered the phone.

"Amy, hi, it's Booth."

"Oh, I'll just go get Russ." A few seconds of muffled noise filtered through the phone before Russ's voice came through with a "Hey Booth."

"Hey. I talked to your sister and she said to go ahead and book us a room too. When do you think we'll have to leave Friday?"

"Well, to get in at a reasonable time, Amy and I are leaving here around 4 so that the girls don't miss school. I don't know about you all though with Tempe working and having to get Parker from his mom."

"Alright, thanks for taking care of the room for us. I'll have Bones call you later."

"Bye Booth, talk to you later."

After hanging up, Booth looked at the clock and was depressed to see it was only 11:30. He could tell from the short conversation he had had with Bones, it would probably be 1 at least before he could get her to take lunch and there wasn't really anything to do. Tapping his pen on the table he once again returned his attention to attempting to focus and organize his memories.

Closing his eyes, he attempted to pull a memory from the recesses of his mind. He could see a series of pictures set in the diner. Bones sitting at a table with Parker, admiring his project. Him sitting with Parker on his lap while Rebecca and Captain Fantastic sit on the other side. Bones waving goodbye from the door.

Using that as his reference point, he searched for another memory. He and Bones are arguing about the acceptability of lying to children about Christmas in the car. They are crossing the street and she almost steps out in front of a car. They open the door to an apartment and flip on the lights and stand amazed at the sight in front of them. He's giddy over the train track suspended from the ceiling. He and Bones are standing in a room surrounded by Santas.

He and Bones are putting on blue containment suits and popping pills. He makes a comment about the fact that she doesn't believe in God, but she'll take pills for something that may not actually be a threat. Then they're arguing about marriage and the cop thinks they're together. The skeleton is glowing and no one, not even Hodgins, knows why and it's driving him crazy. Turns out the victim is an up and coming chef named Carly and the glowing is the result of bacteria. Eventually they find the friend that went missing with Carly locked in her trunk only to learn that she killed Carly and locked herself up. That was the night Bones made him the "food of the Gods".

There's a car burned to a crisp on the train tracks, he never will quite get over the smell of burnt flesh no matter how many cases he works. It's a high profile case because the victim is Warren Lynch, only it turns out that it's not Lynch at all. He doesn't remember how exactly they figured it out, but the body they found was a junkie that was killed then dressed in Lynch's clothing. If he remembers correctly, they went to see McVicker during that case and he claimed Max ordered the hit on Christine Brennan. He can still see the way Bones held up her mask until McVicker could no longer see her, then let it fall as doubt about everything she knew once again crept up on her.

Then, more recently, there was a body that was found by a newly married couple when they bungee-jumped off a hot air balloon. That was an interesting case, it seemed that every hour the damn alarms were going off. First it was because Cam cut into the body and the bones were foaming and letting off an odd gas. Then Hodgins and one of the interns set the body on fire. Then Hodgins found a way to stop the foaming process, but it created an impenetrable shell. It was an interesting case for two others reasons. The first, being that he got to drive a really hot car. The second, Bones accompanied him to a strip club to talk to a possible witness.

Shuddering, he changed gears and focused on a different memory all together. He focused back on the feeling of déjà vu he had felt earlier. Haley was sick and Max had told Russ that if he went to Booth, he wouldn't be arrested. Booth had had to arrest him, but had let him have fifteen minutes with his little girl first. When Russ had to go before a judge for skipping out on his parole, Booth wouldn't say anything to help, but he had already gotten Sweets and a priest to say they would keep an eye on Russ. With that and his parole officer's support, he had only had to serve a month, plus the extended parole time and ankle bracelet. As Booth walked Russ to the marshals, he had warned Russ that if he left again and disappointed Amy and the girls and broke his sister's heart but didn't get to finish because Russ had for him. No wonder the earlier warning had evoked the feeling it had.

*~BONES~*

Brennan groaned as she straightened from her bent position over the bones. It had taken them four hours to completely free the remains from the pillar. The skull had been the first priority so that Angela could run dentals and do a facial reconstruction to identify their victim. So far as Brennan knew, she still hadn't gotten any hits on the former or finished the latter. Brennan, herself, had spent the last half hour bent over the examination table cataloguing and classifying every bone injury and anomaly, only taking her focus away when her stomach protested its hunger. Glancing across the platform at the nearest clock, she realized that it had been over 14 hours since dinner and her last meal. She quickly dialed Booth's number and asked if he had done anything about lunch yet.

"Nope, I was waiting for you Bones."

"Good, I'll be there in ten minutes" she instructed. "I'll come pick you up and we can eat at the diner."

"I'll be here" he joked. With that, she rushed to her office to change her lab coat for her jacket and her purse and headed out the door.

Twenty minutes later, the two were sitting comfortably across from each other at their regular table at the Royal Diner. "So how was your morning?" Brennan enquired.

"Well … I talked to your brother about our trip – he recommends we leave sometime Friday afternoon by the way – and he reserved a room for us when he got theirs and probably your father's. He also warned me about what would happen if I ever hurt you" he told her with a smile.

"What gives him the right to threaten you? I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!" she countered.

"And Russ and I both know that. It is, however, part of being a big brother to look out for your sister regardless of how self sufficient she is."

"That's ok then, I guess. What else did you do?"

"Well, I started trying to organize the things that I've started remembering. I'm getting a lot of the details back now so that makes it easier" he informed her. "So, enough about me, how was your morning?"

She heaved an aggravated sigh before delving into it. "As I told you this morning, there really wasn't anything I could do at the site, so I went to the lab to try and get some other work done, but before I could Angela got there. She was trying to plan your 'surprise' party. And then she asked about our date, and Cam just happened to be stopping in then, so they were both asking me questions about our date. And when I wouldn't go into a lot of detail, Ang started to whine about 'all the juicy details' and that's when Agent Perotta got in, so she asked what we were talking about. She did not look happy that we had a date last night by the way" she spurted out in practically one breath. Booth at least had the good grace to look sympathetic. "It got worse after that though, because it was a very tedious process removing the cement without harming the bones and any possible evidence, so Ang kept asking questions which got everyone else asking all about our relationship. And it took almost four hours to free the remains. When I left, we still hadn't managed to identify the victim. I did identify blunt force trauma to the skull and several 'fresh' breaks to the ribs, wrist, arm, and legs. I am still not sure which of the breaks were defensive wounds and which resulted from the murderer stuffing the body in the pillar mold."

Lunch passed quickly with the two discussing theories about the case, a real improvement from the beginning when she would refuse to 'speculate', although occasionally a distinctly feminine "There is absolutely no evidence to support that" could be heard over the din. When she got a call from Angela informing her that the facial reconstruction was finally finished, Brennan and Booth quickly paid and left for the Jeffersonian.

When Brennan and Booth arrived on the forensic platform, they were met by Wendell, Angela, and Perotta. "Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan, nice of you to join us" she greeted in a somewhat cool professional tone.

"Agent Perotta I didn't expect to see you here, but if you'll give me a minute I can give you an update" Brennan responded in a tone only a few degrees warmer. Turning to her boyfriend, she asked "Booth, would you mind taking these to my office while I go over things with her?" she asked in a much friendlier voice while holding out her jacket and bag.

To everyone's surprise, he took the proffered items from her and easily responded with a "Sure, do you need me to bring your lab coat back out? If not, I'll just hang out in there for a while."

"You relax, I won't need it for a while. Thanks Booth" she called after him. Walking to the examination table she once again focused her attention on the case at hand. "So what would you like first Agent Perotta? The identifying old injuries or the ones relevant to the murder?" she asked her eyes never straying from the bones laid before her and her tone cooling off once again.

"Bren, I think you can skip the old injuries for now, we got an ID from his dentals. I would have told you, but the match came in right after I hung up with you and you were already on your way here. Anyway his name is Rodger Gibson, 42. He went missing fifteen years ago in July" Angela supplied trying to break the very obvious tension between the other two women.

"Ok, so Wendell, what appears to be the cause of death?" Brennan quizzed as a way to involve and teach him as much as to avoid confrontation with the blonde agent.

Wendell looked up at her sharply in surprise. Usually Dr. Brennan was the one to discuss the facts with the FBI, well Booth. Then again, he wasn't blind and he could see that there was some tension at the moment, so instead of questioning it, he spoke up. "There appears to be a large, uneven area of blunt force trauma to the back of the skull."

"And what would account for the size and varying depths?" Brennan asked with a miniscule smile of encouragement.

"The most likely explanation is that the victim was struck multiple times with varying amounts of force" was the ready answer.

"What other relevant injuries are present?"

"There are fractures of the 5th and 6th ribs as well as the right ulna, right radius, left wrist, and several on both legs" he listed off pointing to each area of fracture as he listed it.

"Those breaks were the result of what? Putting Mr. Gibson in the pillar?" Perotta finally contributed.

"The fractures on the legs and broken ribs probably are, but the injuries to the wrist and arm are defensive injuries. He fought back against his attacker violently breaking both bones in his right forearm and his left wrist" Brennan informed her.

"Ok, so do we know what the weapon was yet?"

"No. Not yet. Because the victim was struck multiple times, we are having a hard time getting a clear and accurate cast to compare weapons to. We're still working on it though. We'll call you as soon as we know what it was."

"Alright thanks, I'll let you get back to work" Perotta said as she started walking away from the group and Brennan headed to her office.

She didn't get very far though before Angela caught up to her. "What was that all about?"

"I think she's jealous of Booth and me" she confessed.

"Well yeah Sweetie! That much is obvious to everyone. She always has been."

"What do you mean 'always has been'? Booth and I have only really been together for three days."

"Fine, you've only been dating for three days, but you've been completely wrapped up in each other for four years now. Anyone who has ever seen the two of you together knew you'd end up together. So yeah, she has always been jealous."

"Well, now she's acting on it. She didn't do that before."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"I'll just pretend nothing's wrong and she'll get over it eventually. Besides I only have to work with her for maybe two weeks before Booth's back."

"Before I'm back where?"Booth asked as they approached her office.

"Before you're back to work with me and I don't have to worry about Perotta."

"What about her?"

"Sweetie, you can't tell me you didn't notice!" Angela exclaimed.

"Notice what?"

"That Perotta is so jealous of Bren for dating you. She was being all snippy to her out there."

"It doesn't matter, she'll get over it. Now, we still need to figure out what the murder weapon was" she diverted.

*~BONES~*

After another hour, Brennan and Wendell gave up trying to identify the murder weapon by hand and once again took the skull for Angela to work on. "Hey Ang, do you think you could put this into the Angelator and reconstruct the skull enough to isolate the first strike?"

"I should be able to Bren. How soon do you need it?"

"As soon as you can get it done. Wendell can help you if you need" Brennan offered before leaving Angela's office and heading back to her own to do some work.

When she got there, she found Booth on the phone so she quietly seated herself behind her desk and began filling out the paperwork and organizing the reports for the case and Perotta, while trying to follow his conversation.

"Yes, we want to leave late Friday afternoon so that we can have all day Saturday at the park" she heard him explain to who she could only assume was Rebecca. "No, I don't know where we are staying yet; Russ took care of that for us earlier today … Of course I will let you know where we end up staying, but both Bones and I will have our phones with us so I don't really see why it matters … Fine … I don't mind picking Parker up from daycare on Friday, and I can pack a bag for him from what I have at my place … Well, I thought I'd pick him up around 3 … No, at the moment I can't be more specific, Rebecca, it's over a week away … Have you mentioned it to Parker yet? … Well, could I talk to him?" Then all was quiet for several minutes and Brennan assumed that Rebecca had gone to get Parker.

While he was waiting for Parker, Booth turned his attention to Bones. "So, how goes the search?"

"Not well" she admitted. "There is so much damage and the marking on the bone is so compromised by the repeated blows that it is impossible for us to get a clear idea what the weapon was by hand."

"So what are you going to do?" he asked genuinely curious.

"I took the skull to Ang. Hopefully she'll be able to isolate a single impression for us on the Angelator." Before she could continue though, Booth held up a finger and turned his attention back to the phone.

"Hey there Bub, how are you?" As Parker began to go into an animated story about his day, Booth turned on the speaker phone and set his cell down on the desk between himself and Bones.

"… and then David bet Sam that he couldn't eat a _worm_ and Sam said he _could_ but he didn't _want_ to so David _dared_ him to. It was sooo cool Dad! He _actually_ ate the worm, but then he _threw up_ and the teacher got mad. She said that both of them have to sit out recess tomorrow – have you ever eaten a worm Dad? I think it would be gross, but I would do it to win a bet. Oh, and this girl in my class, Susie, got a marble stuck in her nose …" Parker enthused barely stopping to take a breath.

Booth was trying his hardest not to laugh, but between his son's stories and the looks that crossed Bones' face during them, it was nearly impossible. As Parker continued to go on about the adventures of himself and his friends, Booth finally reached his breaking point and could no longer hold back his laughter.

Bones wanted to be annoyed at Booth for the distraction of Parker's stories, after all she had work to do and listening to Parker was not making it easy. Then again, she loved Parker and the stories really were funny, especially when told in the childish innocence that was Parker. And it was really touching that Booth wanted to include her in the conversation with his son, it was almost like she had a real family again. Not that Russ, Amy, and the girls weren't family because she really did love them all; and she had been steadily rebuilding her relationship with her father, but it wasn't the same as it had been once. They were not as close as when she was a girl and so much had happened in the interim that they never would be again. It felt good to be included in Booth's family. She was broken from her reverie by the resounding tones of Booth's laugh.

When he had composed himself and assured his son that he was not in fact making fun of him, he broached the subject that had prompted this conversation in the first place. "Hey Bub, your mom told you that we are switching weekends right?"

"Yeah, she said I have to stay here this weekend" Parker affirmed slightly downtrodden.

"Did she tell you why?" Booth ventured.

"Nope."

"Parker, how would you like to go on a trip with your dad, me, and my family?" Bones asked.

"Dr. Bones! I didn't know you were there! Where would we go?" Parker asked, suddenly much happier.

"Well, my niece's birthday is next week, and she invited all three of us to go with her family to Kings Island to celebrate."

"Kings Island! That is so cool! When?" the little boy cheered.

"Next weekend, Bub. I'm gonna pick you up Friday and we'll all drive up there, then we're going to the park Saturday. So what do you say? Are you gonna come?" Booth asked with a wink and his charm smile in Bones' direction.

"Yeah!" Parker said enthusiastically.

The three talked a while longer about plans for the impending trip and Parker's friends and anything else that crossed the boy's mind before Rebecca reclaimed the phone to finalize some arrangements with Booth.

*~BONES~*

The rest of the week passed quickly and routinely. Booth spent his mornings at the lab with Bones and the Squint Squad, ate lunch (usually at the diner) with Bones, and then had a session with Sweets before heading home for the day with some kind of assignment from Sweets meant to stimulate memories. Bones would get home about 7 and they would make dinner together and talk, watch some TV, and go to bed.

By the time Friday rolled around, there were multiple reasons for celebration. It had been a difficult case to solve, but they had eventually managed to isolate the weapon and find the murderer. The tension between Perotta and Brennan was still palpable, but it was lessening as the blonde woman came to terms with the new development in Booth and Brennan's relationship. It also helped that the two women spent as little time as possible in each other's presence and almost always made sure not to be alone together.

When Brennan returned to what she was fast beginning to think of as home (Booth's apartment), she was surprised not to find Booth right away. Venturing back into the bedroom, she found him just finishing buttoning his royal blue shirt. "Honey, I'm home" she called from the doorway teasingly.

"I can see that" he responded walking towards her. After a brief kiss, he started steering her towards the bathroom. "Now hurry up and get in the shower. How would it look for the guest of honor to be late to his own party?"

"Booth, stop pushing! I am perfectly capable of finding my own way to the bathroom" she complained swatting at his hands. Within minutes, she was relaxing under the warm spray of water letting the tension of the day slide away with the droplets. Stepping out of the shower, she wrapped herself in a fluffy towel and wrapped another around her hair. She emerged from the room with a cloud of steam to find Booth lounging in the bed. Deciding to ignore him for the time being, she walked over to the closet and started going through the small selection of her clothes hanging there. Finally settling on dark blue jeans and a blood red shirt, she turned and shoed Booth out of the room so she could change.

As she dressed, she contemplated how different this relationship was from any she had ever had before. She and Booth had been dating for two weeks and had been sleeping together a little longer than that, but so far they hadn't had sex and neither seemed to be in a big hurry to get there. The relationship was not without passion, but it was about so much more than that. If she really took the time to think about why they hadn't crossed that line yet, she could only conclude that it was because every relationship that either had ever been in had been mostly about the physical. She knew for a fact that that was what her relationships with Michael, Sully, and even David had been about. She had never really allowed herself to get too emotionally attached before to keep herself from getting hurt. This time, she wanted the emotional attachment. This time she was willing to risk feeling the pain she had felt at fifteen all over again. Booth had said that they would just never break up, that they could spend the rest of their lives together, and he had sounded so sure. He had made it sound reasonable and effortless – no, not effortless (neither was naive enough to believe there would be no problems) – not effortless but _obvious_ and she trusted him implicitly.

Shaking her head to clear it of those thoughts for now, she pulled the towel from her hair and started blow-drying it and reapplying her make-up. As she walked through the apartment holding her purse in one hand and a necklace in the other, she was startled by his sudden appearance behind her. She silently held the necklace out to him, but he didn't take it. Instead, she felt him place another around her neck and fasten it in place. "Booth, what –" she started but was cut off.

"I got you a present. Don't look so surprised" he mock scolded as he led her to the nearest mirror so she could see the necklace for herself.

She had to admit that Booth had excellent taste when it came to jewelry. The necklace he had picked was beautiful in its simplicity. Hanging from a delicate gold chain was an oval locket with a dolphin carved into the front. "Booth, it's _beautiful_" she breathed.

"Open it" he whispered back in her ear.

When she did so, tears sprung to her eyes and her breath caught in her throat. It was perfect! "My family" she whispered as a smile made its way across her face and a wayward tear fell. She wiped at it embarrassedly. On the one side of her new locket was a picture from many, many years ago that featured her parents, Russ, and herself at a park all smiling brilliantly. On the other side was a picture of Booth, Parker, and herself taken about six months before at the lab. Turning from the mirror, she hugged Booth fiercely before letting go suddenly. "We have a party to get to" she announced as she made her way to the door.

*~BONES~*

When they reached the bar, it took only a couple of seconds to locate the rest of their friends. Over in the back corner was a table decorated in a very Angela inspired manner. Brennan laughed and Booth shook his head as they made their way through the crowd to the bar to get drinks before venturing back to the table. When they got there they were greeted by a loud "Sweetie!" that could be heard even over the pounding music. Both were swarmed by the small group of friends and hugs and handshakes and welcomes were exchanged before all six friends took their seats around the table and ordered some food and another round of drinks.

At first, the conversation centered around the recently solved crime and the difficulties that had come from it. It had taken days to figure out what the weapon had been. Hodgins had taken as long to find anything special enough to point to a crime scene or suspect. In the end, it had come down to a single small seed pod hidden and almost lost in the folds of cloth that had once been the victim's shirt to find a crime scene across town from the construction site. Then the problem had been finding any trace of the crime that had happened fifteen years before in what had since been transformed from a wooded area to a shopping center. Needless to say, everyone was glad that the case was done with.

The topic of conversation changed with the food's arrival to Booth and Brennan's relationship and recent date. Cam and Angela tried valiantly to drag details about the recent date from Booth that they hadn't been able to get from Brennan, but were only moderately successful. Hodgins was the least intrusive with the questioning, preferring to sit back and enjoy the antics of the others around him. Sweets, on the other hand was worse than the women. His questions, as one might expect from a psychologist, were not as easily answered or dodged as the others. When the group finally resolved themselves to the fact that they were _not_ going to get any really interesting or particularly juicy details from the two, the conversation drifted to what Angela had affectionately named "the Brennan-Booth family vacation". The partners had attempted to argue the name at first, but quickly gave up deciding that they were going to need to pick their battles and reserve their energy to get through the night.

"So how did Rebecca take it when you told her that you and Brennan were taking Parker on a family vacation?" Cam baited.

"She was fine with it" Booth said quickly, maybe just a tad too quickly. At Cam's arched brow and Angela's knowing smirk he amended slightly. "Well, it took a little bit to convince her, but she didn't really want to be the one to tell Parker that he couldn't go, so she gave in."

"So she does know that the two of you are dating, right?"

"Yes, Ang" Brennan interceded, "Rebecca knows that Booth and I are dating and she's ok with it. And why wouldn't she be? She is happily married."

"Why is it, Dr. Brennan, that you feel so defensive on the subject?" Sweets interjected.

Rather than answer, she just fixed the young man with a look of withering disdain. "She's not being defensive Sweets, she's just stating the fact that Rebecca has no reason to be upset by our relationship" Booth's statement was punctuated by an "Exactly" from the woman in question.

"Ok, ok" Sweets said in a placating manner, "I didn't mean anything by it, it was just a question."

"Get a backbone man! How do you manage to get anything accomplished in therapy if you back down at a look from her and a slightly forceful statement from –?" Hodgins started to ask before cutting himself short under the intensity of the glares aimed in his direction from the couple.

Angela and Cam just sat back and laughed at the situation. "I believe you were saying something about a _backbone_, Hodgins?" Ang teased.

"Shut up" was his irritated response, and the whole table laughed.

The next instant Angela was up and dragging the curly headed scientist towards the dance floor with a shouted "I love this song" as her only explanation. As the driving bass of the song resounded and reverberated around the bar, the others joined them on the dance floor. Cam quickly found a dance partner and Brennan and Booth, obviously, already had that covered. Sweets, who had been dragged along by the others was a little more reluctant. Angela leaned in to say something to Hodgins and when he nodded she moved over to the lone psychologist and Hodgins moved on to a partner-less beauty a few feet away.

"Come on Sweets! Dance with me" Angela called over the music.

"I don't know, Daisy –" he started but was quickly cut off by a firm tug on his arm.

"It's just a dance Sweets, I'm sure Daisy wouldn't mind. Lighten up, live a little!"

What seemed like minutes later, but was actually over an hour and several drinks later, Sweets said his goodbyes and made his way home to Daisy. Cam was the next to go, stating that it was already midnight and she needed to "get home and check on Michelle." The two couples remained for about an hour longer before Brennan complained about practically falling asleep on her feet and Booth was having difficulties hiding his yawns. "Ang, we're gonna go" Brennan informed her friend through a yawn of her own.

"But, it's still early Bren and its Booth's party" she complained.

"Sorry Ang, but we really need to go, besides, I think the party's been over for a while now."

"Fine, be an old married couple!" Ang complained. "Hodgins will stay and dance with me."

Laughing, Booth led Brennan towards the door. He had heard Angela's comment about them being like a married couple and his heart had leapt into his throat. It was no secret that he was in love with her and he was long past lying to himself about wanting to spend the rest of his life with the woman he was currently steering through the dwindling crowd. Unfortunately for both of them really, she didn't believe in marriage. They had argued over the institution many times in their four years together and as far as he could tell, her position on the subject hadn't changed. Then again, she had vowed _never_ to have kids then had turned around and suddenly announced one day that she _wanted one_. Her silence in the face of their friend's joke bothered him a little though. He was just starting to get seriously worried when she smiled slightly and took hold of the locket he had given her. He still didn't know what she was thinking, or if she would ever consent to marry him, but he did know one thing with absolute certainty. Bones was his family now, she had been for a long time and she always would be, married or not.

Brennan, meanwhile, was having a minor mental breakdown. When Ang had referred to her and Booth as a 'married couple', she had actually felt butterflies in her stomach. The fact that the thought of it didn't scare her scared her. She was Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist, novelist, foster kid, commitment-phobic. The thought of being married to anyone should have made her start running for the nearest door. But instead of running away, she felt herself leaning, quite literally at the moment, towards that possibility with Booth. Without even thinking about it, she reached up a hand to hold her new locket as a sweet smile lit upon her lips. She didn't know when or how or why, but somewhere along the way, even before the most recent change in their relationship, Booth had become her family.

*~BONES~*

Author's Notes:

Apology 1 - I freely admit that the idea about the body in the concrete pillar came from an episode of NCIS. I can't remember what the episode was called, but it was the one where a guy was trying to kill Palmer, if that helps.

Apology 2 – Sorry for skipping several days of the case, but I warned you I wouldn't make this a case fic. Besides, I felt the story was dragging and I wanted to get to the party.

Question 1 - Is the title alright? I couldn't really think of anything that was fitting.

Question 2 – Russ and his family live in Virginia right? I couldn't remember if it was Virginia or North Carolina, but VA's closer so I chose that.

Question 3 – By the way, does anyone remember Rebecca's husband's name? I could only remember 'Captain Fantastic', but that didn't seem to fit as something Brennan would say, so I just didn't use any name.

Lastly – Is the end too cheesy? Too fluffy? If so, too bad! I liked it. And as always, I welcome questions, suggestions, ideas, and constructive criticism.


End file.
